Keely Hodgkinson caps off the 12 months of her life: SPOTY and Team GB star who overcame a childhood tumour that left her deaf and unable to run is on observe to earn hundreds of thousands as main manufacturers queue as much as signal Britain’s golden woman

Beaming with pride alongside the coveted Sports Personality of the Year trophy, Keely Hodgkinson capped off the year of her life with another moment to savour last night.

The 22-year-old from Greater Manchester, now the UK’s biggest female athletics star, was crowned the world’s fastest woman over 800 metres when she secured Olympic gold at Paris 2024.

After blowing away her rivals over half a mile in a packed Stade de France, she posed on the track with the Union Jack in one hand and a glitzy gold crown in the other.

There was no one that could stop Hodgkinson on the track on August 5 – or in the battle for public opinion last night.

Hodgkinson pipped darts superstar Luke Littler and England cricketer Joe Root for this year’s SPOTY. The favourite was awarded the gong at a star-studded ceremony in Media City, a stone’s throw from her apartment in Salford.

But in a testament to her unwavering desire to achieve greatness, Hodgkinson is straight back on the track today. ‘There’s no rest over here,’ she quipped in an interview after the ceremony. 

When she’s not on the track in spikes and Team GB kit, Hodgkinson is embracing her love for fashion with dazzling outfits. Last night, she donned a chic black backless dress for the special event.

PR experts have told MailOnline that her historic Olympic win, coupled with her SPOTY triumph and her passion for fashion, means that major brands will be queuing up to sign lucrative deals with Britain’s golden girl. 

Brand and culture expert Nick Ede said: ‘Keely Hodgkinson truly is the golden girl of sport. She’s now on a trajectory that will see her make millions off the running track and into the hearts of the nation.

‘With her stunning looks and sensational personality she will have brands offering her big money for endorsements and promotions. I can see her being offered fashion deals from brands like Marks and Spencer and next. 

‘She is an empowering woman who will become a huge role model for many and so brands will want to use her for promotions from everything from insurance to beauty the world is her oyster.

‘It’s up to Keely to decide how and where she uses her star power.

‘With her triumph over adversity story and her latest win she will make at least £3million in 2025 and beyond.’

There is no doubt, for Hodgkinson, that her life changed dramatically after Paris 2024. In a nod to her love for fashion, Hodkinson says the ‘craziest’ post-Paris moment was meeting Giorgio Armani at a fashion show in Milan in September. 

‘He came over to me and he put his hand on my cheek and called me ‘Bella’ [beautiful in Italian], which I thought was really nice,’ she told The Telegraph. 

‘He can’t speak English, but he’s quite into sport. It was just quite funny because he’s this powerful, small man… he’s a lot older now… but he looks great.

‘He’s still heavily involved in his work, and I think that was a really cool moment. They flew me out. I sat front row at the fashion show – had lots of dinners. The trip was absolutely amazing.’

Another dream-like experience for Hodgkinson since her Paris 2024 win came when she was presented on the pitch at Old Trafford before Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Tottenham in September. 

Speaking to Mail+ ahead of the SPOTY ceremony, she said: ‘It was really nice to be recognised by the team that I’ve supported my entire life,’ she says. ‘We met Sir Alex Ferguson, which was crazy. He was very nice, very chatty. 

‘I showed him my gold medal. He said, ‘You’ll only appreciate this in 20 years’ time when you’re done’. He said he watched my race, but who knows. People say that to me and I’m like ‘Did you?!’.’

But Hodgkinson’s year to remember, finally getting her hands on a global title, has come after overcoming many a setback.

She had previously won successive World Championship silvers after also finishing second on her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.

But to get to the top of her sport she has had to overcome many hurdles in her personal life too, including a tumour that left her deaf in one ear and unable to run at all. 

Speaking to Sky Sports earlier this year, Hodgkinson said: ‘I had a mastoidectomy. It wasn’t majorly life-threatening, (but it) had been growing for ten years.

‘It crushed through my hearing bones and it was just touching my spine. So the risk for the operation was to take it out or keep it in.

‘If you keep it in and let it grow, it can hit the spine and I could end up with Facial Palsy.

‘Now that was quite scary for a 13-year-old girl to think that could happen, but the bones were already crushed anyway so they tried to save them but that turned out why I had a lot of hearing problems growing up.’

The mastoidectomy impacted Hodgkinson’s running hopes too, as she was forced to limit her training in 2015, which meant her form at youth level took a slight dip.

She later explained how her recovery was ‘quite a weird experience’, before eventually returning to full fitness.

‘I couldn’t walk,’ she added. ‘Which is weird to think, because it’s in your ear, your balance and things like that.

‘But luckily it all went to plan. They got rid of it and I’m just left with missing hearing. It’s not too bad.’

Ironically, despite being the fastest woman in the world over 800 metres, Keely, described as ‘nutty as a fruitcake’ by her coach, is a habitually late.

In fact she almost missed her medal ceremony in Tokyo because she went to the loo and lost track of time.

There was also a bout of depression as she coped with fame, and until Paris 2024, the pressure of winning the ultimate race.

She also retained her European 800m title in Rome and became the sixth-fastest woman of all-time when she ran a phenomenal 54.61second 800m at the London Diamond League.

A little known teenager at Tokyo 2020, Hodgkinson has had a rapid rise to fame, quickly becoming one of the most recognisable faces in athletics. 

For Hodgkinson, no mountain is too high. When asked if she had at least two Olympics left in her, her response was typical of a gold medallist.

‘Yeah, some people tell me three and I go ‘woah’,’ she told the BBC. ‘For as long as my body will let me, I just love being competitive. The key is to stay injury free, stay consistent. I have a great team around me as we know. We are just hoping to push on from this and see what else we can do.’

Speaking about Hodgkinson’s future, Mr Ede said: ‘She will be approached by luxury brands who will want to capitalise on her fame like they have successfully with Emma Raducanu or she may want to go down a more fast fashion route and launch a successful range like stars including Amanda Holden and vogue Williams have.

‘She’ll be offered her own TV shows and documentaries and appearances on popular panel shows, plus I’m sure her recently released biography will become a best seller and even turned into a film!

‘She’s already modelled for front covers of magazines like wonderland and there’s no stopping her in the style stakes.’

Friends have previously revealed that Hodkinson has an edge that has helped take her climb to the top – an extraordinary journey for the 22-year-old from Wigan, who went to school with Lionesses’ star Ella Toone, who remains a close friend.

While Toone excelled in football, Hodgkinson was Fred Longworth High School’s star of the swimming pool and track before she plumped for athletics as her sport of choice – winning in every age group from the age of nine.

As well as being the world’s best middle-distance runner, the star runner is a criminology graduate from Leeds Beckett University, where she also trained.

It’s not clear how Hodgkinson celebrated her SPOTY win, but she marked her gold medal victory with a night out in Paris’ most notorious quarter, also home to the French capital’s red light district, in the summer.

Hodgkinson has said that she is not massively keen on drinking – although she does love to party with her friends.

After her success at Tokyo she took a complete break from running and went to Greece with her closest friends – and even admitted she went ‘off the rails’ for a period

‘Me and my friends went to Greece and hung around bars. No running at all. My friends were saying I’d won an Olympic medal to get free drinks, but I’m not like that. I don’t really like drinking and like to know what I’m doing, but you do it because you can’t all year’.

Before the Games, Hodgkinson told the Mail she would buy a beige Porsche Cayman – which retail from £55,000 – should she win gold and pocket the £39,500 prize pot. 

But she admitted to the Mail last week that she did not follow through with this pledge.

‘I decided I’d kind of lived it in my head and now I’m not really bothered about it! The car I have is perfectly fine and there’s probably better things I can put my money to than a car.’

Hodgkinson instead treated herself to a lavender Chanel bag, to match the colour of the Stade de France track, and a gold Cartier ring engraved with ‘Olympic champion’, to go with the silver ones which mark her three previous global medals. 

She has also had the words ‘Amour’ and ‘Paris’ tattooed under her ears.

There were holidays to Marbella and Dubai during her six weeks off, a break which was longer than planned because of a minor knee injury which prematurely ended her season.

Undoubtedly, Hodgkinson is now one of the most recognisable and marketable sportswomen in the country. 

But despite brands throwing themselves her way, she has purposely not yet added to her portfolio of partners, which currently contains Nike, Omega, Rimmel and Maurten.

‘I’ve had some really fun opportunities and stuff to consider, but I’m in no rush to sign anything,’ she explains. ‘I want it all to be right and track will always be the No1 priority. 

‘Nothing will compromise that for me. That’s very important because that’s what’s got me here today.’

Interest in Hodgkinson would only have soared further last night after she was crowned SPOTY by the public.

She beat out Littler, Root, triathlete Alex Yee, England footballer Jude Bellingham and para-cyclist Sarah Storey for the historic title. 

Hodgkinson became the fourth woman in a row to win the gong.

After being presented the award by former winners Sir Chris Hoy and Mary Earps, the Olympian confessed she was in a ‘little bit of shock.’

‘I’m actually more excited for my coach to be honest! This year has been absolutely incredible for me,’ she added.

‘I am so grateful to be in this position. I wish you all a wonderful evening, thank you so much!’  

During the ceremony, the sportswoman spoke of her talent and passion for track and field, adding that life had been ‘amazing’ since Paris.

‘I get the best out of myself when I have something to aim for,’ she explained.

‘I took great inspiration from Jessica Ennis-Hill at London 2012. You start to dream into your teenage years.

‘There is definitely a difference. It’s been amazing ever since Paris, I have had people come up to me with such amazing messages saying their kids love to watch it.’